This study developed multifunctional chitosan–hydroxyapatite (CH–HAp) scaffolds incorporating cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4, CFO) nanoparticles and carvacrol to combine bone regeneration potential with magnetic responsiveness and antimicrobial activity. Scaffolds containing 5 wt% CFO and 10–30 wt% carvacrol (free or Tween 80-emulsified) were fabricated via freeze-drying. The inclusion of CFO provided ferrimagnetic behavior, while carvacrol reduced chitosan crystallinity and increased scaffold porosity. Formulations with 30 wt% carvacrol demonstrated the strongest antimicrobial effect, showing inhibition halos against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, and Candida glabrata. The scaffold combining emulsified carvacrol and CFO exhibited a highly porous (≈90%) structure, preserved magnetic response, and mild cytotoxicity toward L929 fibroblasts, indicating cytocompatibility. The synergistic integration of CFO and carvacrol in a CH–HAp matrix yielded a multifunctional platform that simultaneously provides structural support, magnetic responsiveness, and antimicrobial performance, showing great promise for advanced bone tissue engineering applications.
Pina et al. (Tue,) studied this question.